# Games that school hasn't blocked **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546 "2025-03-13T21:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/41 "2025-03-15T04:48:27Z")
Hmmm? Probably thought it was a different kinda site. (Work at school, play games at home) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/42 "2025-03-15T06:09:53Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Simply install Scorched Earth from floppy disk on one of the school computers while the teacher isn’t looking, then play that with your friends at break. > > Worked like a charm in my day. Psssst! -carefully looks around to make sure no one is watching, then waves you over- You can download OR play (live emulator) [Scorched Earth](https://archive.org/details/msdos_SCORCH15_shareware) via [Archive.org](http://Archive.org) straight from your browser! Don’t get caught. -walks away whistling unconvincingly- ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/43 "2025-03-15T06:45:49Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Seems like gambling (or gambling-adjacent) games might be a bit more problematic. Hearts at least requires a little strategy. I guess dice games can be useful to teach statistics. Hearts does require strategy, as does contract bridge. I seem to recall that both were played, though not by many, in the cafeteria at lunch. If you wanted the crap game, it was the boys’ room, second floor. Dice doesn’t teach statistics so much as it teaches odds and probabilities. Plus, it teaches that every event (or roll, if you prefer) is independent of every other event—there is no such thing as “Ten hasn’t hit for a while; so it’s due!” Good lessons to learn early in life, regardless. When I first saw this thread, I thought it was going to be about games that the school blocked from being played on the playground. Anything involving a ball that was harder than a Nerf ball, for example; all in the name of safety, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/44 "2025-03-15T11:50:44Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Plus, it teaches that every event (or roll, if you prefer) is independent of every other event Using dice to teach that events are independent is like using Woodford Reserve bourbon to teach that alcohol is a poison. I mean, technically true, but it’s the least convincing way possible to demonstrate that concept. I have played dice games with math PhDs. They STILL curse at their dice for rolling low, and know that they’re due a string of good rolls. ---
**Author:** ![brex100determ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e99b99/32.png) [@brex100determ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brex100determ)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/45 "2025-03-15T12:13:15Z")
how do you play these games ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/46 "2025-03-15T12:15:34Z")
You may want to be clearer. What games? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/47 "2025-03-15T15:59:24Z")
Just ask your teacher for help. Tell them there are a bunch of strange old men on the internet trying to play games with you. They’ll probably be glad you’re making new friends. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/48 "2025-03-16T00:01:15Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I played a lot of Hearts in high school. The teachers didn’t ban playing cards. We played Spades. It’s not easy being productive when study hall is held on the bleachers in the gym. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/49 "2025-03-16T00:04:30Z")
For the roughly nine months I spent at a mental institution for high schoolers, I was assigned study hall in the art studio/wood shop. I generally had my homework done already. So, I found a bench and slept. You would think the noise of table saws and belt sanders would wake me. You would be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![brex100determ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e99b99/32.png) [@brex100determ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brex100determ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/50 "2025-03-16T11:57:08Z")
paper football and soccer, iirc ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/51 "2025-03-16T12:46:06Z")
Both games are explained in Wikipedia. > **[Paper football](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_football)** > > Paper football (also called finger football, flick football, tabletop football, thump football, or freaky football) refers to a table-top game, loosely based on American football, in which a sheet of paper folded into a small triangle is slid back and forth across a table top by two opponents. This game is widely practiced for entertainment, mostly by students in primary, middle school (junior high), and high school age in the United States. Though its origin is in dispute, it was widely The g... > **[Penny football](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_football)** > > Penny football (also coin football, sporting coin, spoin, table football, tabletop football, or shove ha'penny football) is a coin game played upon a table top. The aim of the game is for a player to score more goals with the pennies than their opponent. > The game has been in existence since at least 1959. An electronic version of the game has also been produced. > While varieties of the game exist, the core game mechanic is usually the same: players have three coins on the table in a triangle, an... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/52 "2025-03-16T21:55:05Z")
> Paper football (also called finger football, flick football, tabletop football, thump football, or freaky football) refers to a table-top game We should take another step back and explain that a “table-top game” is a physical game that uses a table as a playing surface. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/53 "2025-03-16T21:58:57Z")
Of course both paper football and penny football require access to things that may be foreign to a contemporary schoolchild; paper and coins. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/54 "2025-03-17T23:40:05Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > We should take another step back and explain that a “table-top game” is a physical game that uses a table as a playing surface. Good point, any video game is a tabletop game when you put your console on a table. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/55 "2025-03-18T00:57:14Z")
Perhaps the OP could try Game Boy football. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/56 "2025-03-18T01:03:36Z")
When I was in middle school, I had moved to Guam and my parents had bought my brother and I Game Boys because it was a bit of a shock to move from Bremerton, WA to suddenly living in a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean just north of the equator. All our friends and everything we knew was gone, and they were something to help us cope with the transition. Anyway, I didn’t have much trouble with academics in school and in many of my classes I’d finish my assignment quickly and then I’d be sitting around with nothing to do for half the class. So I’d pull out a Game Boy and play games, usually [Final Fantasy Adventure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Adventure). My teachers didn’t care because I was done with schoolwork, I wasn’t causing a distraction, and my grades were really high. So, that was my answer to “games the school hasn’t blocked”. But things today are probably different than they were '90-'92, plus the OP of this thread might not be bored out of their mind in class with nothing to do after having all their work done. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/57 "2025-03-18T13:07:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > My teachers didn’t care because I was done with schoolwork, I wasn’t causing a distraction, and my grades were really high. I absolutely know this happens, and it’s not at all the fault of the students, and it’s not even really the fault of the teachers. But it’s the fault of an educational system that looks at high-performing kids and said, “Adequacy is good enough!” and neglects their needs. The goal for school shouldn’t be to reach adequacy, to be done with schoolwork, to prevent misbehavior, or to get high grades. It should be to give each student a productive struggle every day, a difficult set of coursework that is engaging and that helps them learn. To the extent possible, kids should seek out these opportunities in school. To the extent possible within a world governed by standardized tests, teachers should create lessons that invite students to struggle. And the people in charge? They need to revamp the way they see education. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/58 "2025-03-18T13:12:41Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > And the people in charge? They need to revamp the way they see education. It was the school system on Guam. I was very advanced there; when I was a freshman in high school most of my classmates in my math class were seniors. When I returned to Washington State I was a year behind in math, and was in classes with kids a year younger. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/59 "2025-03-19T16:59:23Z")
Tell them you want to be an astrophysicist and ask them to install Kerbal Space Program (avoid the sequel). It’s a great ~~game~~ simulation and you’ll learn orbital mechanics which could actually help you out later on in that career path. If they don’t believe you, ask a teacher/principle/IT guy to try it for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DENNIS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@DENNIS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DENNIS)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546/60 "2025-08-20T15:12:32Z")
When you said “write my own games” did you mean program them? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/games-that-school-hasnt-blocked/1015546.md?page=4)